During various surgical procedures, such as the positioning of a lead in or near a heart of a patient, a position for a lead can be selected by a surgeon, electrophysiologist, or other appropriate user. The position of the lead may be at a target location, such as in a coronary sinus of a human subject or at a branch of the coronary sinus in the heart. The positioning of the lead can include a wedging or interference fit, a passive non-interference fit, or an active fixation of a lead into a coronary vessel of a patient.
Various leads can include the Attain™ cardiac leads sold by Medtronic, Inc. The leads can include various shapes and configurations to be positioned into the coronary vessels or other selected locations of the patient. The leads can provide stimulation, such as with an implanted cardiac resynchronization system, including a pacemaker or defibrillator. The lead can be positioned within the patient to provide stimulation to an appropriate portion of the anatomy, such as a selected portion of the heart, to stimulate a dyssynchronous region of the heart. Generally, the lead can be positioned to stimulate a late activating portion of the heart.
A venogram can be obtained of the patient by a user. The venogram of the patient can be used to identify selected locations for stimulation of the heart. Generally, a venogram can include a contrast-enhanced image of a portion of the patient, such as a vein structure of a patient. A contrast-enhanced image, however, generally requires the positioning of a contrast agent in a venous structure which, also, requires positioning of a catheter or delivery device for a contrast agent at the vein structure.